Le Cirque des Rêves

Back again! ᕕ(⌐■_■)ᕗ ♪♬ With yet another illustration of my V. I really had fun drawing the pose & painting the background. Still exploring how I want to render things digitally & just getting a feel for it. I didn't successfully capture the leather texture I was going for. Texture is such a hard thing for me to capture at times, especially with fabrics. But I'll get there. Eventually, lol. ヽ(•‿•)ノ It's definitely fun to look back & see some of the small bits of progress I made from piece to piece. It's been quite the adventure.

Surprise! Another post on the same day?! I wanted to post the Kerry Eurodyne illustration I keep mentioning but forget to post, lol. Not this time. (⌐■_■) I made this illustration a few months back, I was experimenting with brushes & my art style. There were a few things I was happy with here like the background. It was a bit more abstract but I liked the colors. The illustration itself needs more work. Some things weren't proportioned correctly, I need to pause regularly & distance myself so I can spot these mistakes earlier. I also need to work on fabric folds. I kinda bs-ed it. Fabric is something that tends to give me trouble, especially when rendering. Need to do more fabric studies so I can at least bs more accurately, lol. ໒(⊙ᴗ⊙)७✎▤ Capturing texture is also hard. But I'll get the hang of it with time.

I always wanted to make an illustration of Evelyn since I saw her in the game. Shes so stylish. For this piece, I referenced an image from Adorka Stock. I thought the pose looked super fun even though perspective can be rather challenging (for me at least). _(┐「ε:)_ I think it turned out decent overall. I'm slowly leveling up, lol. I also ended up learning how to make a sequin brush for the dress. That was pretty fun to do. I wanna learn how to make a few more. Definitely helps with the process. I loved painting her hair and heels, those were such fun colors to play with. (◍•ᴗ•◍)♡ ✧*。Overall, this was nice to work on and I learned quite a bit while doing it.

I'm currently working and reworking some other drawings, I watched a Sinix Design video that really resonated and I want to apply what I learned there. (His videos are so helpful, I always like re-visiting his channel whenever I'm feeling experimental or stuck.) It's taking me a bit more time to complete simply because it's still a new technique and b/c I have a particular vision of what I want to accomplish. ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ But I'm not gonna worry if it's taking me long to complete, I want to work on it until I'm satisfied with it.

I recently caught up with reading all my danmei novels. Can't believe I devoured them so quickly. I really want to pick up the next volume but I promised myself that I would read a few unread fantasy novels that I had laying around. I started reading Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner and I've absolutely been enjoying it. It's such a delightful read. (=ↀωↀ=) There's exciting duels, court intrigue, and mysterious characters. I'm about halfway through the book and looking forward to what's going to happen next. I'll probably be sad when I finish b/c I don't have the next installment which I will also have to pick up, lol. (ￗ﹏ￗ )

Writing has been going pretty well, I think I'm nearing the end for chapter nine. Maybe about a page left to wrap it up. And I gotta start writing this week's submission. Thankfully I have an idea for what I want to write. The last two songs were hard for me to think up a scene to write. I've also been researching some materials for the original I want to work on. It's slowly coming together. I think I can write a vague outline for it. ໒(⊙ᴗ⊙)७✎▤ Also been listening to a lot of Alice in Chains, it's been helping me write.

Yes, the long awaited SAMURAI piece is here! I actually finished this a few weeks back, but I was on the art grind. (ง'̀-'́)ง This illustration was a fun challenge. It was my first time drawing five people in one illustration. Coordinating that and trying to make them not seem stiff was troublesome, lol. I still think some of them look stiff but practice makes perfect. I'll get that down eventually. The background also gave me a hard time, that's something else I want to improve on this year. I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but I did learn quite a bit and incorporated that into the next piece, which I felt helped it.

I based this illustration off one of the No Doubt photo shoots, I love fun band shoots and wanted to do that for SAMURAI because I find that kind of fan content lacking. So I must will it into existence, lol. ᕙ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ I'm also currently working on another one that's based off of Alice In Chains. That one's kinda goofy. Working on their expressions has been a treat. Although for that one, it's gonna be one member short because I couldn't figure out how to incorporate her into the piece. I feel like these fun challenges will pay off, I experiment and learn something new each time. ⸂⸂⸜(രᴗര๑)⸝⸃⸃

Yepp, more Johnny Silverhand. I loved his alternate outfit and could not resist the urge to draw him in it. I had to repaint this piece a few times b/c there was a certain look I was going for. I had definitely overworked certain areas in the previous attempt. So I'm glad that I took the time to pause and simplify those areas. Although, I feel that I only partially succeeded with this one. It's not quite how I envisioned it to be but it is a step closer. So for now, I'll settle, but I'll be back with a vengeance. I definitely want to accomplish the original goal I had set out to do.

Started working on the Kerry sketch that will match this one. I hope to continue to learn with that one as well. I also sketched some headshots for the Hazbin Hotel cast, it's kinda fun to compare my art then and now. I feel like I definitely grew a lot. I started reading 36 Streets by T. R. Napper. I enjoy the setting but I haven't progressed too far in the story to comment on anything just yet. I just hope I can finish it by the due date, lol.

The cp2077 brain rot continues lol. I drew my V. Wanted to experiment with rendering and played around with a few brushes. Gotta refine the process, it's not quite as to how I envisioned it but I'm happy with how it turned out. I really enjoyed the process overall. I want to experiment with rendering more and see if there's a style I like more. (Granted that changes every few months for me, lol.)

I finished The Artist's Way , I just gotta repeat/ review some of the exercises as the book prescribed but I had a deadline to meet, lol. I would say overall, I liked the introspective and goal planning stuff. I also liked the stuff with changing your views or adjusting them if there's a misalignment. I found that interesting.

I'm almost done with the next drawing like 90% done technically, but it's always the small details that take me a while lol. Kerry's tattoos are the bane of my existence, I think they look sooo good on him but they're a pain to draw. I've redrawn that tattoo like five times and I'm not satisfied. Gahhhhh. ⁽⁽(੭ꐦ •̀Д•́ )੭*⁾⁾

Another Kerry Eurodyne pic, referenced a shot of Miyavi's for the pose. I loved how dynamic he looked in the photo, so I wanted to capture that for Kerry. For this illustration, I wanted to work on dynamic poses and try out a new way to do leather/latex. I want the characters to look less stiff when I draw them. I also want the clothes to look more tactile. I feel like with this illustration I was able to take a step in that direction, which I'm proud of. I know it's not perfect (don't think it ever will be) but I'm improving.

Still gotta work on incorporating backgrounds. This one turned out alright. I also have to work on lighting. I want the piece to feel cohesive. I'm not quite there yet. But as the year continues, I'll chip away at it. I'm excited for the challenge.

"Wake the f**k up, samurai. We have a city to burn." Drew the rocker boy and legend, Johnny Silverhand. He was a hoot to draw. I love this jackass. He's so snarky and charismatic. His chrome arm turned out a little off, gotta work on shading metallics. But I'm really proud with how the pants turned out lol. I also used a photo from when I was in Miami during 2017, I saturated it and made it all glitchy. It was my third attempt at trying to come up with a background and it was the attempt I was most content with.

Been working on chapter three of my fic. Started writing the spicier bits. It's been such a challenge because it's so far from my norm but the challenging elements also makes it fun. While writing it, I was jamming out to old school reggaeton. It's been such a long time since I listened to the stuff. Took me back.lol.

Thanks @/elvenbeard for allowing me to reference your work, your model was absolutely stunning!
This piece gave me a bit of trouble. First with the background, I had to change it a few times before I settled on this. lol. Then, it was the tattoos (I left those for last). His tattoos were so troublesome to draw and even now they're not like 100% accurate, but that's just how it's gonna be for the meantime. Overall, I had fun working on this piece and all the little challenges that came with it. I feel like I leveled up with this one.

Also, I just absolutely adore Kerry! He's so sassy, stylish, and petty; it's great! lol. And his voice, I freakin' love his voice! (Both the speaking voice & singing voice.) Simply divine!